5-Star Match Reviews: Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. II – NJPW The New Beginning In Osaka 2024

Even though we’re only in March the best match of 2024 might already have been decided thanks to Bryan Danielson and Zack Sabre Jr.

Back in October 2023 these two had a match truly worthy of the WrestleDream’ show name. Even though it was, by most definitions, a cold match without much storyline reason for being, the two wrestlers put on one of the most exciting displays of grappling skill seen in years. Some people were comparing it to the best work from the likes of Kurt Angle, Bret Hart, and other past legends whose greatest strengths were shown in what they did and not in what they said or how they looked.

Many people adored that October match, to the point that few believed that they could top themselves. So did they accomplish that this time around? Read on to find out.

The story

Danielson and ZSJ wrestled four months earlier at AEW WrestleDream to see which of them the batter mat/scientific grappler was. Danielson won that match by a narrow margin, but only because he suddenly shifted to strikes at the last minute. So even though Danielson won that first match, the original question remained unanswered.

The match

This match took place on February 11, 2024. It was rated *****1/2 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

They tease locking up but both men slap each other’s hands away. Danielson avoids a dropkick to his knee and goes for ZSJ’s ankles. ZSJ tries crawling away but Danielson remains on him and goes for a heel hook. ZSJ breaks free and then both men go for a Greco-Roman knuckle lock. Danielson rolls into an armlock attempt but ZSJ reverses. We get lots of reversals and some loud applause. They lock-up again and Danielson takes ZSJ to the mat. He applies a wacky yet painful-looking leglock but ZSJ wrestles into a cross armbreaker attempt. Both men end up tied together like a pretzel until Danielson frees himself. ZSJ counters into another cross armbreaker out of nowhere but Danielson rolls out, leading to another stalemate.

They do the Greco-Roman knuckle lock and power each other around the ring until ZSJ brings Danielson counters into his own cross armbreaker attempt only for ZSJ to roll out. ZSJ floats over into a guillotine attempt but Danielson gets a ropebreak. Danielson has hold of ZSJ’s legs and looks like he might want to lock in a Boston crab but ZSJ is under the ropes and gestures at Danielson “come on” as the ref tells him to let go.

They lock-up again and ZSJ stands on one of Danielson’s hand as he wrenches the other. Danielson escapes a double wristlock and lands two armdrags to maintain control. He sends ZSJ into a corner, ZSJ bounces out and locks in a standing guillotine into an armbar with bodyscissors. ZSJ drops down but instantly wrestles into a heel hook. Danielson spins over to avoid the torque and locks in a leglock of his own. Danielson does an Indian deathlock but ZSJ catches his neck on a drop-down and ends up in an STF of sorts. Danielson fights back with a chinlock/neck crank, forcing another separation.

They lock-up yet again and ZSJ quickly wrestles into a cross-arm necklock. Danielson reverses but then ZSJ kicks his way to freedom. ZSJ applies a front chancery but Danielson counters with an arm wringer that sends ZSJ shins-first into the bottom rope. ZSJ sells like he’s may have legitimately pulled something but does the “fight through the pain” gimmick which leads to more applause from the appreciative crowd. They want sportsmanship more than characters and gimmicks, after all. Danielson headlocks ZSJ and then lands a dropkick to the knee. He follows with a leg whip and starts working it on the mat as ZSJ tries applying any sort of hold he can. Danielson maintains control and wrestles into a Romero Special position. But before he locks in the hold he taunts ZSJ telling him to grab the ropes since they’re close by but ZSJ refuses. ZSJ talks smack which leads to a Romero double stomp to the knees from Danielson. Be careful who you trash-talk Zack.

ZSJ tries maintaining a defensive guard on the mat but Danielson kicks at his weakened left calf and then his spine. But then ZSJ stiffens and straightens his back instead of falling over, waiting for Danielson to kick him again. Danielson obliges, punts him hard in the spine, and then locks in a sort of single leg crab. Both men roll to the ropes leading to a ropebreak as Danielson continues working over ZSJ’s ankle.

ZSJ hobbles over for another lock-up but Danielson quickly lands two dragon screw leg whips. Danielson tries a third one but ZSJ twists over to block it. He goes for his double leg neck twist but Danielson trips him and applies an ankle lock. Then ZSJ counters into one of his own. Danielson counters back and lands a leg-trap bridging German suplex. Danielson pulls on ZSJ’s nose and then lands kidney shots to lock in a Romero stretch and then a Romero dragon sleeper. ZSJ escapes and locks in his own dragon sleeper. Both men land counter snapmares on each other until ZSJ connects with his neck twist.

Both men land some quick knockdowns until ZSJ connects with another neck twist followed by a dropkick to the head. ZSJ applies a cravate hold but Danielson gets a ropebreak, lands some hard slaps, and attacks the bad leg some more. Danielson lands a running dropkick to the knee and then to the face, but on his third charge ZSJ hits first with a cobra twist. ZSJ switches to a standing octopus hold. Danielson breaks free and almost locks in a stretch muffler hold but then switches to a heel hook. ZSJ locks in his own heel hook at the same time. Both men trade slaps in between leg cranks and full-contact boots to the face. Danielson spits in ZSJ’s face. Both men kick each other full-force until they collapse.

Both men apply heel hook again and stay locked together as they roll onto the apron. ZSJ falls to the floor and Danielson hits him with a flying knee. Danielson tosses him back into the ring and goes for a dive. ZSJ traps him in a triangle choke, lands some elbows to the head, and switches to a scissored armbar. Then he switches to another armbar variation, and then to an omoplata/double arm-trap crossface. Danielson reaches for the ropes with his feet but ZSJ traps the legs with his free hand and locks in a type of Figure-4 leglock, only for Danielson to get a ropebreak with his now-free arms.

Some standing switches ensue and then Danielson blocks a full nelson by mule kicking ZSJ’s bad knee. A macho standing strike exchange ensues and ends with Danielson almost kicking ZSJ’s head in. after a short reprieve and more applause from the crowd Danielson goes back to working the leg against the ropes. He goes for a top-rope dropkick but ZSJ cuts him off. A head-butt exchange ensues with Bryan perched on the top turnbuckle. ZSJ teases a super rana but Danielson ducks down and crotches him on the top rope and hits a super back suplex for the first two-fall of the match. Danielson hits collar elbows and goes for his Cattle Mutilation submission hold. ZSJ rolls out and goes for another full nelson. Danielson rolls out and goes for a roll-up. ZSJ counters into a German suplex attempt. Danielson lands on his feet and goes for a roundhouse. ZSJ ducks and lands a Michinoku Driver. One, two, Danielson survives.

ZSJ gets up first and starts kicking Danielson’s chest. Danielson blocks a third kick and goes for a leg sweep. ZSJ counters with another triangle choke. Danielson fights out and hits several elbow strikes to ZSJ’s face. The referee checks to see if ZSJ can continue and he signals that he can still go. Danielson lands his patented armtrap stomps to the head and goes for his crossface. ZSJ resists so Danielson locks in ZSJ’s own double arm submission hold. ZSJ tries resists and does the slightest shift in body weight to block the full application of any hold. ZSJ gets a ropebreak to stop another leglock so Danielson starts kicking his chest. Each kick sends ZSJ down but he keeps getting up to a kneeling position to tank more shots. He opens himself up and Danielson kicks him some more. One more shot brings Zack to his feet all fired up. Danielson misses a knee strike and blocks a European clutch. ZSJ reverses that into a sleeper. They go back-and-forth reversing, countering, and rolling around until ZSJ gets an extremely close two-count off a jackknife cover. Then ZSJ lands a running Penalty Kick and both wrestlers collapse again.

Both guys get up and we get an uppercut/calf kick exchange. ZSJ lands on his feet to avoid a backslide but lands badly on his weakened leg. Danielson capitalizes with a Busaiku Knee. But he doesn’t cover; instead of charges for a second one. ZSJ dodges and tries another European clutch. Both men block and counter each other some more until ZSJ gets a crucifix hold in. one, two, and three!

Winner after 32:46: Zack Sabre, Jr.

Post-match, after plenty of downtime, ZSJ scoots over to an exhausted Danielson and extends his hand. Danielson shakes his head at first but then changes his mind. He shakes and raises his hand and then both men bow to each other in mutual respect.

Review

Yeah, this was outstanding in pretty much every conceivable way. It was as close to pure technical/amateur wrestling as it gets under the pro-wrestling banner. But it wasn’t just “two guy hugging each other for X amount of minutes”. It looked and felt incredibly realistic and almost sport-like. It was more focused and driven by competition as opposed to the showy nature of their first match. The transitions and counters here were quicker, cleaner, and more precise. Even though they went almost 33 minutes the match flew by for the most part. There was hardly anything in this match that could really be considered a “flaw”.

As Michael Fitzgerald noted, this wasn’t just an exciting match; it was elegant. Both men wrestled with a grace and finesse that put an emphasis on both men’s amateur and technical skills. This created a wildly different sort of match most people might be used to: a technical and almost purely competitive match that had the added bonus of being entertaining as opposed to a piece of entertainment with sports-like elements sprinkled in. anyone that wants to see pro-wrestling treated and presented seriously would get more than their money’s worth here.

One of the best parts of this match was that things evolved organically as the match went on. Danielson found a sudden opening going after ZSJ’s leg when an arm wringer sent Zack into the ropes. He didn’t start with that strategy from the very beginning but the moment Zack started hobbling around a light went off in Danielson’s head. He found a great way to add more story and psychology to this match. He kept going back to that weakened limb time and again throughout the match and never forgot about it. You don’t see that in many token forced epics: many times the wrestlers involved in a big match lose the plot because they’re so focused on adding so much that the small details end up being abandoned. Seeing things from earlier in the match brought back later on more satisfying: a match with an airtight story with regular focus on a specific body part of element is much better than a match that just featured directionless flash and noise with less thought put into it.

And best of all, they furthered their story. Despite all the grappling and counter-wrestling, the conclusion wasn’t decisive or emphatic. Zack Sabre Jr. got a sudden victory out of nowhere that made his win come across as lucky. So while ZSJ got his won on paper, the way the match went proved that ZSJ was equal to Danielson but not better than him. As such, the ending of this match created an organic and justifiable reason for a rematch.

The only real blemish (I can’t really call it a flaw or a major drawback) in this match was its length. It went a bit too long; even with a smoother pacing compared to the AEW match and better movement between sequences, this match dragged a bit. They could’ve shaved off a good five to ten minutes which would’ve removed a few of the repetitive spots centered on the legwork and the slower strike exchanges. But this is a minor nitpick; the match as is was fantastic and a much-needed realistic counterweight to the explosion of surrealist and exaggerated stuff gaining traction in various pockets of the wrestling business.

Final Rating: *****

To me this is the MOTY so far and the only thing I could see topping it is the inevitable tie-breaker this year. Bryan won their first match via strike to the head and ZSJ evened the score with a sudden crucifix pin out of nowhere. As of this writing, the question of best technical wrestler is still unanswered. Clearly both guys are going to want one more match with a submission finish. Now that we’ve seen these guys put on more of a show (WrestleDream) and as close to pure sports as it gets (NJPW New Beginning). Their next match will in all likelihood combine the best of both worlds and will lead to another show-stealing display.

If you don’t have New Japan World, this match makes it worth trying the service, even for only a month. This is a match worth watching in its entirety, as the viral summary videos that end up spreading online don’t capture anything remotely close to the entire picture.

Thanks for reading.